Stephen Mallory

Stephen Mallory (1812-9 November 1873) was a US Senator from Florida (D) from 4 March 1851 to 21 January 1861 (succeeding David Levy Yulee and preceding Adonijah Welch) and the Confederate Secretary of Navy from 4 March 1861 to 2 May 1865.

Biography
Stephen Mallory was born in Trinidad, British West Indies in 1812, and the family immigrated to the United States and settled in Key West, Florida in 1820. In 1832, he became town marshal, and he later became a customs collector and served in the US Army during the Second Seminole War. Despite not holding any high offices, by 1850 he was regarded as one of the most powerful members of the Florida Democratic Party. In 1850, he was elected to the US Senate, serving until 1861. He resigned from the Senate at the start of the American Civil War, and he became the Confederate Secretary of Navy. He incorporated armor into warship construction, and he resigned from the government after the fall of Richmond in 1865. Mallory spent a year in prison before being paroled by President Andrew Johnson. He died in 1873.